Scarlett Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by 0-MischiefManaged-0
Summary: ah yes, imaginative title once again. Obviously follows Scarlett Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Harry and Scarlett's second year at Hogwarts is predestined to be just as mad as the first, with them getting into just as much trouble for the simple matter of wrong timing - and the trouble increases for Scarlett due to knowing Fred and George Weasley. Bad summary wow.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright then. It's been a while since I've posted anything, hasn't it?**  
**But I have my excuses. My computer completely broke and everything I'd written had gone. I'd literally already written all of this, and now I have to start all over again. **  
**It's a disaster.**  
**Forgive the fact it took so long, but there we go. **

**Also, because I'm 0% inventive, the title will just be this unless I can think of anything better/you guys suggest anything better. **  
**Okay, I hope you enjoy :)**

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Chapter 1

For what seemed to have been the millionth time since Harry and Scarlett had gotten back from Hogwarts, an argument had arisen at number four, Privet Drive. This time, though, it was whilst they were eating breakfast. Their Uncle Vernon had been woken up in the early hours of the morning by loud hooting noises coming from the twins' room.  
'This is the fifth time this week!' he roared, 'If you can't control those bloody owls, they'll be going!'  
'They're bored,' Harry said, 'They're used to being able to fly around outside, if we could just let them out – at night-'  
'Do I look stupid?' Uncle Vernon snarled, with fried egg dangling from his moustache,  
'I don't think you want us to answer that,' Scarlett smirked, but wasn't heard as Uncle Vernon continued talking anyway,  
'I know what'll happen if those owl's are let out.' he exchanged a look with his wife, or their Aunt Petunia.  
'I want more bacon.' Dudley Dursley complained,  
'There's more in the frying pan, sweetums,' Aunt Petunia said, turning her pale eyes towards her gigantic son. 'We must feed you up while we've got the chance … I don't like the sound of that school food...' she muttered, and Scarlett couldn't help but think that food was the last thing her cousin needed. He was only 12 and already took up half of the table.  
'Nonsense, Petunia,' Uncle Vernon said, 'I never went hungry when I was at Smeltings-' he added, heartily,  
'Quite the opposite, actually. He looks as if he ate the whole kitchen.' Scarlett said under her breath to Harry, who repressed a laugh, disguising it as a cough,  
'-Dudley gets enough, don't you, son?' Dudley then grinned and turned to Harry,  
'Pass the frying pan.'  
'You've forgotten the magic word.' Harry said, and Scarlett froze; as did Harry when he realised what he had said. Dudley gasped and fell sideways off his chair with a crash that made the kitchen shake, Mrs Dursley gave a small scream and clasped her bony hands over her mouth, whilst Mr Dursley jumped to his feet, looking completely and utterly furious,  
'He meant please!' Scarlett said, quickly,  
'I didn't mean-' Harry started, but was interrupted,  
'HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!' he shouted, 'I WARNED YOU BOTH! I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY MENTION OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!' they stared at their Uncle, who was now purple in the face, and let their eyes turn to Aunt Petunia, who looked even paler than usual, and was attempting to pull Dudley up from the floor.  
'All right.' Harry said, and Uncle Vernon sat back down, watching the two of them with his eyes narrowed. Since the twins had come home from Hogwarts, their Uncle had been treating them as if they were a bomb about to explode.  
Scarlett missed Hogwarts. She missed walking around the secret passageways with Fred and George, she missed seeing the ghosts casually floating around – she was even starting to miss the lessons...although not Snapes, mainly Flitwicks and McGonagalls. She missed the mail arriving by owl and the four post beds and the Gryffindor common room. She missed playing Quidditch whenever she wanted – at the moment her broom and books were locked away in the cupboard under the stairs, along with Harry's.  
She hated it. She hated living with the Dursleys – and they hated living with her. They despised the fact that there was a witch in the family, and this doubled with the fact that Harry was also a wizard. Uncle Vernon had even gone to locking their owls in their cage to stop them carrying messages to anyone.  
Scarlett sighed and looked around at their Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. She and Harry couldn't have looked any different to them – of course, Uncle Vernon wasn't their blood relative, however that didn't explain the stark contrast between her and her aunt and cousin. Aunt Petunia was horse-faced and bony, her eyes the lightest shade of blue, whilst her hair was almost black. Dudley, on the other hand, was blonde, pink and porky. Scarlett being the complete opposite to this in the fact that she was almost identical to what her mother had looked like. She had dark red hair, and bright eyes that lingered somewhere between her mothers bright green and her fathers blue, also having a thin, lightning shaped scar across her forehead – the opposite side to her brothers scar. Likewise to Scarlett, Harry looked nothing like their aunt and cousin, he having their fathers messy, black hair, and their mothers brilliant green eyes that were framed by his round glasses. When she considered it, it was a shock that she and Harry were twins – their eye colour and hair colour differing. Though, it must have been made obvious by their scars and slight similarities.  
Scarlett wrote on the table with her fingertip, tracing a make believe pattern as Uncle Vernon cleared his throat,  
'Now, as well all know, today is a very important day,' Scarlett frowned, there was no way he could have remembered it was her birthday today, could he? That seemed insane if he had, it was any wonder he even knew how old they were. 'This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career.' of course not. Scarlett went back to tracing nothing on the table, thinking bitterly about the dinner party their Uncle had been on about in the weeks leading up to. A rich builder and his wife, apparently, were considering placing a large order for the company Uncle Vernon worked for.  
'I think we should run through the schedule one more time, we should all be in position at eight o'clock. Petunia – you will be-?'  
'In the lounge,' Aunt Petunia said promptly, 'Waiting to welcome them graciously into our home.'  
'Good, good. And Dudley?'  
'I'll be waiting at the door,' he said, pulling a horrific smile, 'May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?'  
'They'll love him!' Aunt Petunia cried, as Scarlett pulled a face,  
'Excellent, Dudley.' Uncle Vernon said, then turned towards the twins 'And you?'  
'We'll be in our bedroom, making no noise and pretending that we don't exist.' they chorused monotonously,  
'Exactly.' Vernon spat nastily, 'I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them drinks at, precisely, eight fifteen-'  
'I'll announce dinner,' Aunt Petunia said,  
'And, Dudley, you'll say-?'  
'May I take you through to the dining room, Mrs. Mason?' Dudley said, offering his overly fat arm to an invisible woman,  
'My perfect gentleman!' sniffed Aunt Petunia,  
'And you?' Uncle Vernon said again, looking back at Harry and Scarlett,  
'We'll be in our bedroom, making no noise and pretending that we don't exist.' they repeated, dully,  
'Precisely. Now, we should aim tog et in a few good compliments ar dinner. Petunia, any ideas?'  
'Vernon tells me you're a wonderful golfer, Mr. Mason...do tell me where you bought your dress, Mrs. Mason...'  
'Perfect. Dudley?'  
'How about...we had to write an essay about our hero at school, Mr. Mason, I wrote about you.' that was the line for Aunt Petunia, and also for Harry and Scarlett. Aunt Petunia burst into tears of joy, hugging her son tightly, whilst Scarlett and Harry had to hide under the table whilst they laughed.  
'And you two?' they composed themselves, before emerging,  
'We'll be in our room, making no noise and pretending that we don't exist.'  
'Too right, you will.' Uncle Vernon said forcefully, 'The Masons don't know anything about you and it's going to stay that way. When dinner's over, you take Mrs. Mason back to the lounge for coffee, Petunia, and I'll bring the subject around to drills. With any luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the news by ten. We'll be shopping for a holiday home in Majorca this time tomorrow.' she found it hard to be excited over this, the Dursleys barely liked her in Surrey, so she couldn't imagine how they'd like her anymore so in Majorca. Unless of course they left she and Harry with Mrs. Figg whilst they were there...she shuddered at the thought.  
'Right – I'm off into town to pick up the dinner jackets for Dudley and me. And you,' he snarled at the twins, 'Stay out of your aunt's way while she's cleaning.' the twins immediately left through the back door. It was a sunny day, for once, and the two slumped down on the garden bench.  
'Happy birthday, Harry.'  
'Happy birthday, Scarlett.'  
'I can't wait to go back.'  
'Agreed.' he sighed. It was silent for a few seconds and Scarlett suddenly realised something – just because she and Harry weren't capable of sending things out, that didn't mean they couldn't get anything from anyone else. They hadn't gotten anything from anyone. Not even a card. No one had even written all summer! Although, when she considered it, she hadn't expected Fred, George or Ron to write much – but maybe once would have been nice. She had expected a few letters from Hermione, but had received nothing from her either. Scarlett had been tempted to use magic to free their owls from their cages, but always decided against it when she got around to considering that she may be expelled. They weren't allowed to use magic outside of school. Obviously, neither Scarlett nor Harry had told the Dursleys that, it was far more interesting to watch them squirm every time either of them made a movement. A few weeks into the summer holidays, the twins had walked around muttering complete nonsense under their breath, enjoying the sight of Dudley tearing out of the room as fast as his short stumpy legs would carry him. But eventually, after they had been apart from the wizarding world so long, it had gotten boring.  
She missed Fred and George more than she thought she would. She missed Fred's jokes and George's over protective nature – at least with her. She missed how sarcastic the two of them were. She felt like she hadn't properly laughed since she last saw them. She missed Hermione talking her to death about things she didn't care about until three in the morning. She missed Ron being...well, Ron. She even missed finishing off Ron's homework when he didn't quite understand what to do.  
'What the bloody hell is that.' Scarlett said,  
'What is that?!' Harry said at the same time. There was a pair of enormous green eyes staring back at them through the hedge. They sprung to their feet just as Dudley's irritating voice echoed across to them,  
'I know what day it is,' Dudley sang, waddling towards them. The huge eyes blinked, and then vanished. Harry turned towards Dudley, whilst Scarlett continued frowning at the hedge,  
'What?' Harry said,  
'I know what day it is.' Dudley repeated, walking right over to them.  
'Congratulations, Dudders.'  
'Yeah, you finally learnt the days of the week.' Harry said,  
'We knew you'd figure it out eventually.'  
'It's your birthday.' Dudley sneered, 'How come you haven't gotten any cards? Haven't you even got friends at that freak place?'  
'Better not let mummiekins here you talking about our school, Dudders.' Scarlett said darkly, as Dudley hitched his trousers up. 'Who knows what might happen.' she said, narrowing her eyes and smirking,  
'Why're you staring at a hedge?' Dudley asked, changing the subject quickly,  
'Well, I was thinking about what spell I could use to set it on fire,' she murmured, 'But now I'm wondering if a hedge would be the right decision,' she said, turning her head towards Dudley, before tilting it to the side, 'Setting a person on fire would be far more thrilling, don't you agree?'  
'You – you c-can't! Dad told y-you that y-you're not allowed to do m-magic! He – he said he'll chuck you out of the house – you – you haven't got any friends! You've got nowhere to go!'  
'Jiggery pokery!' Harry said in a fierce voice, 'Hocus pocus squiqqly wiggly -'  
'MUUUUUUUUUUM!' Dudley howelled, tripping over his feet as he sprinted back towards the house, 'MUUUUUM! They're doing you know what!'  
Aunt Petunia didn't find their moment as fun quite as amusing as they'd hoped she would, and they'd had to duck when she threw a frying pan at them. Then they had work to do. Whilst Dudley got to sit around doing nothing and eating ice cream, whilst Harry cleaned the windows, washed the car and repainted the garden bench. Scarlett stuck with mowing the lawn, trimming the flowerbeds and watering the roses. The sun was blazing overhead of them, and Scarlett was sure her paler-than-a-ghosts skin was burnt beyond belief. It was half past seven in the evening when, at last, the two heard Aunt Petunia's shrill voice call them back in.  
'Get in here! And walk on the newspaper!' the twins gladly went into the gleaming kitchen. On the top of the fridge stood the pudding for the dinner that night: a huge mound of whipped cream and sugared violets. A loin of roast pork was sizzling in the oven.  
'Eat quickly!' Aunt Petunia snapped, 'The Masons will be here soon!' she pointed to two slices of bread and a lump of cheese on the kitchen table. She was already wearing her salmon-pink cocktail dress. The two washed their hands and gulped down their useless excuse for a dinner. The moment they finished, the plates were whisked away. 'Upstairs! Hurry!'  
As Scarlett and Harry passed the living room door, they caught sight of Uncle Vernon and Dudley in bow ties and dinner jackets. It took all of Scarlett's might to not burst out laughing at Dudley. Not as soon as they had stepped on the top stair had the doorbell rang, and Uncle Vernon's furious face appeared at the foot of the stairs 'Remember, one sound – one sound at all.' they crossed to their bedroom as quietly as they could, and Scarlett closed her eyes and collapsed on her bed, before turning over to see Harry – but there was already someone sitting on his bed.

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**A/N, I can't remember for the life of me if James's eye colour is mentioned? So I just said Scarlett's eyes were blue/green, because I figured it's unlikely if his eyes were brown that Harry's would have been green because browns the dominate colour yeah ok.**

Now back to crying over The Day of the Doctor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Aaand we have the second one. Thank you for all the views/reviews/favourites/follows/etc from the last chapter, it was pretty great :D **  
**I hope this is as good as the first one, and the third one should be posted sometime soon :)**  
**Please review this chapter too, cause it'd be pretty cool. **  
**Okay. Now back to crying over my essays.**

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Chapter 2  
  
Scarlett's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the creature sitting on Harry's bed. The thing was little, barely taller than the bedside cabinet, and had large, bat-like ears, with bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. This was the thing that had been staring at them through the garden hedge the very same morning.  
'May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?' Dudley's voice floated from the hall downstairs. The creature slid off of the bed and bowed so low that the end of it's long, thin nose was close to touching the carpet.  
'Er – hello?' Harry started nervously,  
'Harry Potter!' the creature said in a high pitched voice, staring at Harry, 'So long Dobby has wanted to meet you, sir – such an honour it is, sir …'  
'Th – thank you,' Harry said, edging along the wall and sinking into the chair by the desk next to Hedwig, who was soundly asleep.  
'...who are you?' Scarlett muttered, as the elf turned to face her,  
'Scarlett Potter! An honour likewise, miss, an honour. I am Dobby, miss. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf.'  
'Oh...well...not to be rude, but this isn't a spectacular time for us to have a house-elf in our bedroom.' as she said this, Aunt Petunia's loud, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf hung his head.  
'Not that we're not pleased to meet you!' Scarlett remedied,  
'It's just, er, is there any particular reason you're here?'  
'Oh, yes, sir and miss,' Dobby replied earnestly, 'Dobby has come to tell you, both...it is difficult, sir and miss, Dobby wonders where even to begin..'  
'Sit down,' Harry said politely, pointing towards the end of the bed. To the twins' horror, Dobby then burst into tears – loud, noisy tears.  
'S-sit down!' he wailed, 'Never.. never ever!'  
'We're sorry!' Harry hissed quietly,  
'We didn't mean to offend you!  
'Offend Dobby!' chocked the elf, 'Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a witch or wizard before – as if he is an equal,'  
'You can't have met many decent wizards then.' Scarlett muttered, as Harry shushed him whilst looking comforting at the same time. Harry ushered Dobby back onto the bed, where he began hiccoughing, looking rather similar to a very ugly doll. Dobby shook his head at Scarlett's statement, before he leaped back up, banging his head against the window and shouting 'Bad Dobby! Very bad Dobby!'  
'Don't! What are you doing!' Harry hissed, leaping up and pulling him back down onto the bed,  
'Dobby had to punish himself, sir,' said the elf, who was now slightly cross-eyed. 'Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir …'  
'Your family?' Scarlett frowned,  
'The wizard family that Dobby serves, miss...Dobby is a house-elf, and is bound to serve one house and one family forever.  
'Do they know you're here?' Harry asked, curiously, and Dobby shuddered,  
'Oh no, sir, no...Dobby will have to punish himself for coming to see you, sir and miss. Dobby will have to iron his hands...'  
'But won't they notice if you start ironing your hands, Dobby?' Scarlett asked,  
'Dobby doubts it, miss, Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, miss. They lets Dobby get on with it, miss. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments...'  
'But can't you leave? Or escape?' Harry asked,  
'A house-elf must be set free, sir. And the family will never set Dobby free, sir...Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir...'  
'That's awful.' Scarlett muttered, 'Don't you have a choice? Don't you get to choose whether or not you want to serve the family?'  
'No, miss. We house-elves get no say in it, miss. Dobby has been born for this, miss.'  
'I thought staying here for another four weeks was bad.' Harry said, 'This makes even the Dursleys sound human. Can't anyone help? Can't we?' Dobby dissolved into wails of gratitude once again.  
'Please, please be quiet. If the Dursleys hear anything, if they find out you're here-'  
'The Potters ask if they can help Dobby – Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir and miss, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew!'  
'Whatever you've heard about us is probably rubbish.' Scarlett started, 'We're not even top of our class, that's Hermione!' Harry nodded in agreement,  
'The Potters are humble and modest,' Dobby said, his orb-like eyes glowing, 'They do not speak of their triumph over he-who-must-not-be-named-'  
'Voldemort?' Harry asked, and Dobby clasped his hands over his ears and moaned,  
'Speak not the name, sir! Speak not the name!'  
'Sorry,' Harry apologised again, 'I know lots of people don't like it. My friend Ron-' he cut off suddenly. Scarlett glanced down at the floor. Dobby leaned towards the two of them,  
'Dobby heard things, sir...Dobby heard that the Potters met the Dark Lord for a second time a few weeks ago...and that the Potters escaped again...' they nodded. 'The Potters are valiant and bold! They have braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry and Scarlett Potter, to warn them! Even if he does have to shut his head in an oven door later...the Potters must not go back to Hogwarts.' the silence in the room was shattered only by the sound of cutlery from downstairs.  
'W-what?' Harry stammered,  
'Not go back to Hogwarts?'  
'But term starts on September the first!'  
'We've got to go back! It's all that's keeping us going!'  
'You don't know what it's like here.'  
'We don't belong! We belong at Hogwarts!' Scarlett said,  
'No, no, no,' Dobby squeaked, shaking his head so hard that his ears flopped, 'The Potters must stay where they are safe! They are too great, too good, to lose! If the Potters goes back to Hogwarts, they will be in mortal danger!'  
'Why?'  
'There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make the most terrible things happen at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.' Dobby whispered, trembling, 'Dobby has known it for months, sir. The Potters must not put themselves in peril. They are too important!'  
'What terrible things?'  
'Who's plotting them?' Scarlett asked, as Dobby made a funny choking noise and banged his head against the wall once again.  
'All right! You can't tell us, we understand, but why are you warning us?'  
'Has this got something to do with Vol – sorry, You-Know-Who?' Scarlett asked,  
'You can nod or shake your head.' Dobby shook his head,  
'Not – not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir and miss.' but his eyes were so wide that it looked as if he was giving them a hint. The twins, however, were lost.  
'He hasn't got a brother, has he?' Harry asked, and Dobby shook his head, his eyes even wider,  
'Well, I can't think of anyone else who would have a chance of making horrible things happening – I mean, there's Dumbledore, you know Dumbledore, don't you?'  
'Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby know it, miss. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, sir and miss,' Dobby's voice dropped, 'There are powers Dumbledore doesn't...powers no decent wizard...' and before either of them could stop him, he bounded of the bed, seized the desk lamp and started beating himself around the head with earsplitting yelps. Silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later, Harry and Scarlett heard Uncle Vernon charging down the hall, calling "Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!'  
'Quick, in the wardrobe!' Harry said, grabbing Dobby and pushing him into the cupboard.  
'What – the – devil – are – you – doing?' Uncle Vernon asked through gritted teeth, his face horribly close to Harry's. 'You've just ruined the punchline of my Japanese golfer joke – one more sound, and you'll wish you'd never been born! The both of you!' then he stopmed out of the room.  
'See what it's like?' Harry muttered, letting Dobby out of the wardrobe,  
'We've got to go back to Hogwarts. It's the only place we have – or we think, we have friends.'  
'Friends who don't even write to the Potters?' Dobby asked slyly,  
'Well, maybe they'v been – hold on,' Scarlett frowned, 'How do you know our friends haven't been writing to us?' Dobby shuffled his feet.  
'The Potters mustn't be angry with Dobby – Dobby did it for the best -'  
'Are you the one that's been stopping our letters?' Harry asked,  
'Dobby has them here, sir and miss...' the elf said, stepping away and pulling a think wad of envelopes from inside the pillow case he was wearing. Scarlett could make out Hermione's neat handwriting, Ron's untidy scrawl, and Fred and George's sloping, slightly scruffy writing. She even thought she saw a scribble that looked as if it could have been Hagrid's. Dobby blinked anxiously up towards the twins,  
'The Potters mustn't be angry with Dobby...Dobby only wanted to help...if the Potters thought their friends had forgotten him...the Potters might not want to go back to school, sir and miss...' Harry made a grab for the letters, but Dobby jumped out of his reach,  
'The Potters will have them, sir, if they give Dobby their word they will not return to Hogwarts school! This is a danger you must not face, sir and miss! Say you won't go back!'  
'No!' Scarlett said angrily, 'Give us our friends' letters!'  
'Then the Potters leave Dobby no choice.' the elf said sadly, and before either twin could move, Dobby had darted to the bedroom door, pulled it open and ran down the stairs. The twins leapt after him, running as quickly and quietly as they could. They stood in the hallway, looking for any sign of Dobby. From the dining room they could hear Uncle Vernon saying '...tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She's been dying to hear...' Harry ran into the kitchen, quickly followed by Scarlett, and she felt her stomach dropped. Aunt Petunia's masterpiece of a pudding, was floating near the ceiling. On top of a cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby.  
'No,' Harry croaked,  
'Dobby, please, they'll kill us!'  
'The Potters must say they're not going back to school -'  
'Dobby … please …'  
'Say it, sir or miss -'  
'We can't!' Scarlett said, her eyes pleading. Dobby gave them a tragic look.  
'Then Dobby must do it. For the Potters' own good.' the pudding then fell to the floor with a crash. Cream splattered against the wall, and the dish shattered. With a crack, Dobby disappeared. There were screams from the dining room, and Uncle Vernon burst into the room to find both Harry and Scarlett, stood there in shock, covered from head to toe in the pudding. At first, Uncle Vernon attempted to gloss the whole thing over ('It's our niece and nephew, they're very disturbed. Meeting strangers upsets them, so we kept them upstairs'), he shooed the Masons back into the dining room, promised the twins he would flay them to within an inch of their lives when the Masons had left, and handed Harry a mop. Aunt Petunia dug ice cream out of the freezer and the twins, still shaking, began scrubbing at the kitchen.  
Uncle Vernon might still have been able to make his deal at this point – if that hadn't have been for the owl. Aunt Petunia had begun passing around a box of after-dinner mints when a large barn owl had swooped into the dining room, dropped a letter on Mrs. Mason's head, and then swooped back out again. Mrs. Mason had screamed like a banshee and sprinted from the house, shouting something along the lines of 'lunatics'. Mr. Mason had stayed behind just long enough to explain his wife was mortally terrified of birds, and asked whether this had been their idea of a joke. Harry and Scarlett could barely move a muscle when Uncle Vernon had charged towards them later, clutching a letter in his grip,  
'Read it!' he hissed, brandishing the letter the owl had delivered. 'Go on – read it!' the two exchanged a look, and Scarlett tentatively reached out and took it.

_Dear Mr and Miss Potter,_

_We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine. _  
_As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C)._  
_We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy._

_Enjoy your holidays! Yours sincerely,_

_Mafalda Hopkirk_

_IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE_

_Ministry of Magic_

Scarlett looked up from the letter, and both she and Harry gulped at the same time.  
'You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside school.' Uncle Vernon said, a gleam in his eyes, 'Forgot to mention it – slipped your mind, I daresay? Well. I've got news for the two of you, I'm locking you up. You're never going back to that school … never … and if you try to magic yoursel out – they'll expell you!' and, laughing like a maniac, the two were dragged upstairs. Uncle Vernon was as bad as his word, and the following morning he had paid a man to fit bars on their bedroom window. He himself, fitted a cat-flap to the bedroom door – only so that small amounts of food could be pushed through the door three times a day. They let the two used the bathroom in the morning and evening (obviously not at the same time), otherwise they were locked in the room around the clock.

Three days later, the Dursleys were showing no sign of relenting, and the twins could see no possible way out of their situation. They spent most of the days lying around doing nothing, watching the sun rise and set through their bars. The cat-flap rattled and Aunt Petunias hand appeared, pushing two bowls of canned soup into the room. They both jumped of their bed and seized the freezing soup, however drank it gratefully given they had had barely anything previously. They emptied the vegetables at the bottom into their owls' cages, Romani hooting gratefully whilst Hedwig eyed Harry with slight disgust,  
'No good turning your beak up – that's all we've got.' Harry sighed. They placed their bowls back down on the floor by the cat flap and went back to lying on their beds,  
'We're going to die.' Scarlett groaned,  
'Probably.'  
'And even if we don't, we're never going back to Hogwarts.'  
'Nope.'  
'I'd rather die than never go back.'  
'Yep.'  
'I hate them.'  
'Agreed.' Silence followed their short exchange. The room grew darker and darker over time, and Scarlett eventually felt her eyelids flutter shut, a somewhat fitful sleep following. She dreamed she had gone back to Hogwarts, but had gone there to find an abandoned castle, and that it turned out that she had dreamt it all – and she was going to have to go back to her life at Privet Drive, destined to do nothing for the rest of her life.  
'Stop it...' Scarlett heard, and she forced her eyes open, hearing Harry's continued murmurings, 'Leave me alone … cut it out … I'm trying to sleep …'  
'Shut up -' Scarlett started, before she focused properly. There was someone peering through the bars in their window. Someone with red hair and freckles. Ron Weasley was outside their bedroom window.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

'Ron?' Harry breathed, as the twins crept towards the window, pushing it up so that they were able to talk through the bars, 'Ron, how did you -'  
'What the hell is that.' Scarlett said, her eyes widening as she took in what exactly she was looking out. Ron was leaning out of a bright turqoise car, which was parked in midair. Grinning at Scarlett and Harry were Fred and George.  
'All right, you two?' George asked,  
'What's been going on?' Ron said, 'Why haven't you been answering our letters? We've asked you to stay about twelve times – and then Dad came home and said something about you two getting a warning for underage magic in front of Muggles-'  
'It wasn't us - ...how did he know?' Scarlett frowned,  
'He works for the Ministry.' Ron said, 'You know we're not supposed to do spells outside of school-'  
'You can talk,' Harry said, staring at the floating car as Scarlett scoffed,  
'This doesn't count,' Ron said, 'We're only borrowing it. It's Dad's, really, we didn't enchant it.'  
'Just flew it through Muggle London in the middle of the night, no big deal,' Scarlett said, and Fred and George smirked,  
'But doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with-'  
'We told you, we didn't. But it's going to take to long to explain,' Harry started, 'Tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked us up and won't let us go back,'  
'Obviously we can't do magic to get ourselves out because the Ministry will demand our heads on plates,' Scarlett said,  
'Stop gibbering,' Ron said, 'We've come to take you home with us.'  
'And how do you plan on getting us through the steel bars on our window, Ron? Magic?' Scarlett teased, and he rolled his eyes,  
'You forget who I've got with me,' Ron jerked his head towards the two fools in the front seat, who were grinning,  
'Tie this around the bars,' Fred said, throwing a rope to Scarlett.  
'If the Dursleys wake up we're dead, you know?' Harry muttered, watching as Scarlett looped it around, before Fred revved the car,  
'Don't worry.' he said, 'and stand back.' Scarlett and Harry took one look at each other, and stepped as far back as they could go. The car revved louder and louder, and, suddenly, with a crunching noise, the bars were pulled clean out of the window and Fred drove straight up into the air. The two ran back to their window to see the bars dangling a few feet above the ground. They stayed silent, waiting anxiously, but luckily no noise came from the Dursleys.  
'Get in.' Ron said, as Fred reversed as close as possible to Harry's window,  
'All out stuff – our wands – broomsticks -'  
'Where are they?'  
'Locked in the cupboard under the stairs.' Scarlett huffed, 'And we can't get out of this room.'  
'No problem,' George said from the passenger seat, 'Move, you.' he said to Scarlett, who raised her eyebrow,  
'I could push you, and you'd fall well over 10 feet. Want to risk it?'  
'Oh shut up,' he smirked, as he and Fred climbed through the window. George took a hairpin from his pocket and began picking the lock,  
'Loads of wizards think this is a waste of time, Muggle tricks. But we feel they're worth learning – even if they are a bit slow.' there was a quiet click, and the door swung open,  
'We'll go and get your trunk – you two grab anything you need and give it to Ron' George whispered,  
'Watch out for the bottom step – it creaks,' Scarlett muttered, and George nodded before they disappeared. Scarlett and Harry made a quick dash around their room, collecting all their things and passing them out to Ron in turn, before helping Fred and George with their trunks. At last, they reached the landing, panting and attempting to catch their breath,  
'Have you got rocks in this?' George hissed, as he and Scarlett pulled it into the bedroom,  
'Shut up!' she replied, 'It's your fault for being weak.'  
'Harsh.' he smirked, as Fred climbed back into the car to pull the suitcases in with Ron, with Harry, Scarlett and George pushing from their side. The first trunk slid through the window silently, before it fell into the boot of the car. They pulled Scarlett's up – George groaning as he did so – shoving it next to Harry's trunk in the boot. Uncle Vernon coughed from the other room.  
'Okay, let's go,' George whispered, as Harry climbed through the window, jumping into the backseat as quickly as he could, George following before holding out his hand to pull Scarlett in – she grabbed it, and just as she did there was a loud screech from behind her. She swivelled around and saw Harry had left Hedwig.  
'You bloody prat!' she hissed at Harry, as Uncle Vernon roared,  
'THAT RUDDY OWL!' Scarlett tore across the room just as the landing light clicked on, grabbed Hedwig's cage and ran back to the window, passing it to Ron, who was now in the passenger seat. She scrambled back onto the chest of drawers just as Uncle Vernon hammered the door open. It seemed time froze for a split second. Uncle Vernon was stood in the doorway, before he let out a bellow and dived towards Scarlett, who immediately made a move. She had almost gotten to the car, and had one leg stuck out whilst she shuffled into the seat – however her ankle was grabbed by Uncle Vernon  
'Shi-' she started, as she slid from the car. George grabbed onto her arm just as she slipped, he and Ron pulling her as hard as thy could.  
'PETUNIA!' Uncle Vernon roared, 'THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!' but, George and Ron gave an almighty tug, and she flew into the backseat of the car, landing across George as she did.  
'Put your foot down, Fred!' Ron yelled, and the car shot towards the moon almost immediately. Scarlett grinned up at George, before sitting up,  
'Sorry about that.'  
'It's fine, I've had worse things on top of me,' he winked, and she shook her head,  
'You're disgusting.'  
'You presumed.' he smirked, and all of a sudden Scarlett's eyes widened, before she whipped around and looked back at the fading street lights of Privet Drive. She would not be seeing her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin until the next Summer, and nothing could have made her happier.  
'Let the owls out,' Ron said, 'They can fly behind us, haven't had a chance to stretch their wings for a while, have they?' and with that, George handed a hairpin to Harry, and Hedwig soared joyfully out of the window, Romani screeched and pecked at Scarlett's fingers through the cage,

'Yes, alright!' Scarlett muttered, unpicking the lock, and Romani joined Hedwig to soar mere seconds later.  
'I missed you, Potter.' George said, and she smirked,  
'Well, I'm glad to know you at least tried to write to me.'  
'Obviously – wait, hang on, how? I didn't mention it?' he frowned,  
'Oh...yeah, the story.' Scarlett said, turning to Harry, 'Do you want to start off or shall I?'  
'Right...well, it's all a bit weird.' Harry said, and they burst into the story of Dobby the house elf, the warning they'd given him, and the brilliant fiasco that was the pudding. The silence at the end was stretched and shocked.  
'That's fishy.' Fred said, finally.  
'Definitely dodgy.' George agreed, 'So he wouldn't even tell you about who's actually supposed to be plotting all this stuff?'  
'Nope,' Scarlett started, 'In all honesty, don't think he could have. Every time he got close to telling us he started bashing his bloody brains against the wall.' she saw Fred and George glance at each other, 'What, you think he was lying?'  
'Well,' Fred started, 'House elves have got really powerful magic of their own – but they can only use it with their masters permission. I reckon Dobby was sent to you two to stop you coming back to Hogwarts as a joke. Think of anyone from school who hates you?'  
'Draco Malfoy.' Scarlett hissed, 'And no doubt they have a house elf, they're evil.'  
'Is he the blonde greasy kid?' George asked, and she nodded,  
'He hates us.' Harry said,  
'Malfoy as in, Lucius Malfoy?' Fred questioned,  
'Know any other Malfoys?' Scarlett smirked, and Fred narrowed his eyes,  
'We've heard Dad talking about him,' George said, 'He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who.'  
'Why doesn't that surprise me.' Scarlett muttered,  
'And then when You-Know-Who disappeared,' Fred said, 'Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of rubbish – Dad reckons he was right  
in You-Know-Who's inner circle.' this wasn't the first time Scarlett had heard the rumours, and she wasn't necessarily surprised by it,  
'I'm not sure if the Malfoys own a house-elf,' Harry said,  
'Well, whoever owns him would have to be an old wizarding family, and they'll be mega rich.' Fred said,  
'Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing,' George began, 'but all we've got is a lousy old ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden.'  
'I'd kill to have a ghoul,' Scarlett muttered, 'I think that'd be pretty fun? I could scare the Dursleys with it, anyway.'  
'They're rubbish, really,' George said quickly, before continuing, 'Anyway, house elves usually come with big old manors and castles and stuff.'  
'Prat.' Scarlett muttered, as the realisation hit her that Draco Malfoy probably had more money than she could even dream of.  
'I'm glad we came to get the two of you, anyway, we were getting worried when you didn't answer any of our letters – we thought it might have been Errol at first-'  
'Errol?'  
'Our owl.' George said, before frowning 'Or, sort of. He's ancient, can barley fly anymore.'  
'But then I tried to borrow Hermes-'  
'Hermes?' Harry asked,  
'Percy's owl.' Ron said,  
'Mum got it for him when he was made prefect.'  
'Anyway, Percy wouldn't lend him to me, said he needed him.'  
'He's been acting weirdly all summer, and he's been sending loads of letters and spending way too much time stuck up in his room...I mean, surely there's only a  
number of times you can polish a prefect badge?' George said, before frowning, 'Fred you're driving too far west.' Fred glanced at the compass on the dashboard, before twiddling with the wheel slightly.  
'So, how does your dearest daddy feel about you stealing the car?' Scarlett asked, and there was no reply, the three Weasleys blushing slightly,  
'Er...he doesn't. He had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without Mum even noticing it went missing.'  
'What does your Dad do at the Ministry, anyway?' Harry asked,  
'He works in the boring department. The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.'  
'The what.' Scarlett said, blinking rapidly,  
'It's about when people bewitch things that are Muggle-made, 'cause they could end up in a Muggle shop or a house. Like, last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. A Muggle woman bought it, took it home and tried to serve her friends tea in it and, well, it was a nightmare, Dad was working overtime for weeks.'  
'What happened?'  
'The teapot went absolutely mental. Started squirting boiling tea all over the place and one man ended up in hospital with the sugar tongs clamped onto his nose. Dad was frantic – it's only him and this old Warlock called Perkins up in the office, and they had to do Memory Charms and all sort of stuff to cover it up -'  
'But your dad – and this car!' Scarlett said, 'I highly doubt-'  
'Dad's crazy about everything to do with Muggles,' Fred laughed, 'Our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided our house he'd have to put himself under arrest. Drives Mum mad.'  
'What's so intriguing about Muggles, dare I ask? After my experience I have to say that they're particularly boring.' Scarlett muttered,  
'You're starting to sound posh.' George smirked, before peering into the front and through the windowshield, 'That's the main road, I reckon we'll be there in about ten minutes; probably for the best, it's getting light.'  
'What do you mean I sound posh?' Scarlett said, narrowing her eyes.  
The car eventually started to get lower and lower, and Scarlett began to see dark patchworks of fields, surrounded by tree.  
'We're a bit out of the village,' George said, 'Ottery St. Catchpole.'  
'Touchdown!' Fred grinned, as the car hit the ground with a bump, causing Scarlett to fly up and her head to hit the roof,  
'Ow! Mother fu-'  
'Far more like the Scarlett we're used too.' George winked, and she punched his arm. They clambered out of the car and found themselves standing next to a garage in a small yard, on looking left, she looked at the Weasleys' house for the first time.  
It was amazing, in it's own way. It looked as thought it had once only been one floor, however must have had extra rooms added onto the top with the arrival of more children. There were at least four chimneys perched on top of the red roof, and Scarlett presumed it was all being held together by magic. A lopsided sign by the door read 'The Burrow.' and around the front door lay a pile of booys and a cauldron.  
'It's not much-' Ron began,  
'It's wonderful.' Harry grinned, and Scarlett nodded. The five slowly crept into the kitchen. The kitchen itself was rather small, but large enough. There was a scrubbed wooden table set in the middle, with chairs set out around it. The clock on the wall was an odd thing, for it had no numbers and only one hand. Written around the edges were things such as "Time To Make Tea", "Time To Feed The Chickens", "You're Late". There were a plethora of books stacked on the mantlepiece, Scarlett didn't even recognize any of them, their titles things like Charms Your Own Cheese, Encantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts – It's Magic!  
If Scarlett hadn't have been so tired, she probably would have spent more time looking around. However, as it happened, she wanted nothing more than to sleep for the next week and a half.  
'Alright,' Fred whispered, 'We'll go upstairs really quietly, and then wait for Mum to call us for breakfast, then, Ron, you can come bounding down the stairs going "Mum! Look who turned up in the night!" and then she'll be all pleased to see Harry and Scarlett, and no one will ever find out that we flew the car – all right?'  
'Right.' Ron nodded, 'Come on, you two, I sleep at the to-' he trailed off and his eyes widened. The other four turned around to see Mrs. Weasley standing there, her resemblance to a tiger being extraordinary considering how normally she looked quiet caring.  
'Ah.' Fred said,  
'Oh, dear.' George sighed,  
'So.' she said, her eyes narrowing,  
'Morning, Mum.' George said, in what he must have thought was an innocent voice,  
'Have you any idea how worried I've been?' Mrs. Weasley began, in a deadly whisper,  
'Sorry, Mum, but we had to -' Fred started, but soon stopped  
'Beds empty! No note! Car gone! You could have died! You could have been seen! You just wait until your father gets home, no trouble like this from Bill or Percy!'  
'Perfect Percy.' Fred muttered darkly,  
'YOU TWO COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!' Mrs. Weasley yelled, prodding two of her fingers on Fred and George's chests. The yelling then continued for what seemed to be hours, until she finally turned to Harry and Scarlett, who were slightly terrified at this point.  
'I'm very pleased to see you two, dears.' she said, 'Come in and have some breakfast.' and with that, she turned and walked back through to the other room. Scarlett cast a quick look at George, her eyes wide with slight fear, but he only nodded slightly, and therefore she followed after Mrs. Weasley, hearing Harry's footsteps behind her. Mrs. Weasley was clattering around, cooking breakfast rather haphazardly, throwing dirty looks at her sons as she threw things into the frying pan.  
'I don't blame the two of you, dears,' she said to Scarlett and Harry, as she loaded their plates up, 'Just last night Arthur and I had been saying how worried we were about you, and that we'd come by ourselves if you hadn't written back to any of these by Friday,' she gestured towards the three red heads, 'But really, flying an illegal car halfway across the countrs – anyone could have seen you!'  
'They were starving them, Mum!' George said, and Mrs. Weasley's expression seemed to soften slightly, 'Bloody bars on their windows and all.' he added afterwards, under his breath, but Mrs. Weasley must have caught it,  
'Language.' she said, though her tone was not nearly as bad as before. At that moment, there was a diversion in the form of a small, redheaded girl, who appeared in the kitchen, saw Harry, then gave a small squeak and ran out.  
'That's Ginny.' Ron said, 'Our sister. She's been talking about you all summer – kind of annyoing, really.'  
'Yeah, she'll be wanting your autography, Harry,' Fred grinned, but caught his mother's eye and quickly continued eating without saying anything else. Not another word was muttered until everyone had cleared their plates, at which point Fred spoke up once again, 'Blimey, I'm tired,' he yawned, 'I think I'll go to bed -'  
'You will not,' Mrs. Weasley snapped, 'It's your own fault you've been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again-'  
'Oh, Mum-' Fred groaned,  
'And you two can help,' she said, glaring at Ron and George. 'You two can go up to bed, dears,' she added to Harry and Scarlett, 'You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car-'  
'We can help.' Harry said, after a glance at his sister, 'We've never seen a de-gnoming before.'  
'That's very sweet, but it's rather dull work. Now let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject,' and with that she pulled out a rather heavy book from the mantelpiece. George groaned loudly,  
'Mum, we know how to de-gnome the garden, if you haven't noticed we've been doing it for a while now.''Oh he is marvelous,' Mrs. Weasley said, looking down at the wizard with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes on the cover of the book. Scarlett looked at the man on the cover, before raising her eyebrows at George, who nodded in agreement. 'He knows household pests, all right. It's a wondeful book.'  
'Mum fancies him,' Fred said, in a very audible whisper,  
'Don't be ridiculous, Fred,' Mrs. Weasley said, though her cheeks were stained pink. 'All right, if you three think you know better than Lockhart, you go an get on with it – and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that garden when I come out to inspect later.' and with a lot of yawning and groaning, the Weasley slouched outside with the two Potters behind them. The garden was massive, and Scarlett thought it was exactly what a garden shoud have been. The Dursleys would have hated it – there were weeds, and the grass needed cutting, but they were surrounded by gnarled trees around the walls, and plants Scarlett had never even see were spilling from every flower bed, then there was a pond full of frogs.  
'Muggles have gnomes, too, you know,' Harry said to Ron, as they walked across the lawn,  
'Yeah,' Ron said, 'I've seen the things they think are gnomes,' he stuck his head in a bush, 'like little fat Santa Clauses with fishing rods...' there was a violent scuffling, the bush shuddered, and Ron straightened up, 'This is a gnome.' he said grimly, and Scarlett's eyes widened as she stared at the creature Ron was holding up,  
'Geroff me! Geroff me!' the gnome squealed. It was certainly nothing similar to Santa Claus. It was small and leathery, with a large knobbly, bald head – Scarlett couldn't help but compare it to a potato.  
'That is the ugliest thing I've ever had the displeasure of seeing,' Scarlett said, her nose crinkled in disgust,  
'Sounding even more posh.' George smirked, and she glared at him. Ron held it up at arms length by it's ankle, turning it upside down.  
'This is what you have to do,' Ron started, he then raised the gnome above his head and started to swing it around in large circles. Seeing the shocked looks on Scarlett's face, George moved over to her,  
'Doesn't hurt them,' he smirked, 'Just makes them really dizzy so they can't find their way back to the gnome holes. Besides, look how ugly they are, can't feel sorry for them, can you?'  
'That's like saying if a person's ugly you can't feel anything towards them.'  
'...alright, fair point, but these things are arseholes.' George said, as Ron let his go. It flew twenty feet into the air, landing with a thud in the field over the hedge.  
'Pitiful!' Fred said, 'I bet you anything I can get mine beyond that stump.'  
After that Scarlett and Harry learnt quickly that they should not feel too sorry for the gnomes. Scarlett almost dropped one over the hedge, but the gnome must have sensed her slight emotion, because it sank it's razor sharp teeth into her hand – she shook her hand around wildy until the gnome flew off, Scarlett cursing under her breath as she clutched at where the gnome had bitten around her hand.  
'You alright?' George asked, and she nodded,  
'Yeah, just fine, other than my hand bleeding after a gnome tried cannibalism.'  
'You'll cope, love.' he grinned at her, and she stuck her tongue out. Soon, the air was thick with gnomes, 'See, they're not too bright.' George said, seizing four or five gnomes at once, 'The moment they know the de-gnoming's going on they all storm up to have a look. You'd think they'd have learned by now just to stay put.' soon, the crowd of gnomes had started walking away in a sad line, their tiny shoulders hunched,  
'They'll be back.' Ron said, as they stood and watched the gnomes disappear, 'They love it here...Dad's too soft with them, thinks they're funny.' there was a loud door slam,  
'He's back!' George said, 'Dad's home!' and the Weasleys then hurried through the garden and into the house, Scarlett and Harry glancing at each other before they followed. Mr. Weasley was slumped in a kitchen chair, his glasses off and his eyes closed. He was a rather thin man, going bald, but the little hair he had left was as red as his children's. He was wearing long, dark green robes, which were dusty and worn by travel.  
'What a night,' he mumbled, groping for a teapot when they all had sat down, 'Nine raids, nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to hex me when I had my back turned …' Mr. Weasley took a long gulp of his tea, before sighing,  
'Find anything, Dad?' Fred asked eagerly,  
'All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle,' he yawned in response, 'There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some odd ferrets, but that's the Commitee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness.  
'Why would anyone want to bother with making door keys shrink?' George frowned,  
'Muggle-baiting,' Mr. Weasley sighed, 'Sell them a key that keeps shrikning to nothing so they can never find it when they need it … of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would ever admit that their keys keep shriking, they'd insist they just keep losing them. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's right under their noses. But the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe -'  
'LIKE CARS FOR INSTANCE?' Mrs. Weasley had suddenly appeared, holding a long poker like sword. Mr. Weasley's eyes jerked open, and he stared up guiltily at his wife,  
'C-cars, Molly, dear?'  
'Yes, Arthur. Cars.' Mrs. Weasley said, her eyes flashing, 'Imagine a wizard buys a rusty old car, telling his wife all he wants to do with it is take it aprt and see how it works, whilst really he enchants it to make it fly.' Mr. Weasley blinked,  
'Well, dear, I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to do that, even if – er – he maybe would have better to, erm, tell his wife the truth … there's a loophole in the law, you'll find … as long as he wasn't intending to fly the car, the fact remains that even if the car could fly it wouldn't-'  
'Arthur Weasley, you intended to make sure there was a loophole in that law when you wrote it!' Mrs. Weasley shouted, 'Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Harry and Scarlett arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!'  
'Harry and Scarlett?' he said blankly, 'Not Harry and Scarlett -' he looked around and his eyes landed on Harry, sitting next to Ron, and Scarlett, who had now taken to sitting on Fred when he took her seat.  
'Good lord, is it the Potters? Very pleased to meet you, of course, Ron, Fred and George have told us so much about-'  
'Your sons flew that enchanted car to Surrey and back last night!'  
'Did you really?' Mr. Weasley asked, eagerly, 'How was it? I – I mean,' he faltered, on seeing his wifes expression, 'That was very wrong, boys, very wrong indeed.'  
'Let's leave them to it,' Ron muttered to the twins as Mrs. Weasley's eyes flared once more, 'Come on, you two can see my bedroom.' they slipped away quietly, and made their way down a narrow passageway to an uneven staircase, which wound its way through the house, zigzagging up as it did. On the third landing, a door stood slightly ajar. Scarlett glanced over to see a bright brown pair of eyes looking at Harry, before Harry himself looked and the door snapped shut.  
'Ginny,' Ron said, 'It's weird for her to be this shy. She never usually shuts up -' they continued to climb two more flights of stairs until they reached a door with peeling paint, and a small plaque on it saying RONALD'S ROOM. The twins stepped in, their heads almost touching the ceiling, and blinked. The entire room was a bright, bold orange. Violently orange. Insanely and completely orange. It was then she looked closer and realised that the walls were covered with posters of the same seven people – all wearing bright orange robes.  
'Quidditch team?' Scarlett asked, an eyebrow raised, 'Or at least I hope so, otherwise it's far too orange.'  
'The Chudley Cannons,' Ron said, pointing at his orange bedspread, which was emblazoned with two giant black C's and a speeding cannonball, 'Ninth in the league.' Scarlett glanced around again, and saw Ron's spellbooks stacked untidly in the corner, next to a pile of comics that featured The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle. Ron's wans was lying on top of a fish tank full of frog spawn on the windowsill, next to his large rat, Scabbers, who was asleep in the sun. They stepped over to the window and glanced down, seeing a gang of gnomes sneaking back in one by one.  
'it's a bit small,' Ron said quickly, as Harry turned back, Scarlett still staring out of the window, 'Not like the room you had with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic – he's always banging the pipes and groaning …' but at that moment Scarlett turned back around and she and Harry grinned,  
'This is the best house we've ever been in.' they both said, and Ron's ears turned pink.

* * *

**SO there we go. Not much to say other than please review/favourite/follow whatever because it's great when you do :D Thanks.**


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